Sound and Fury are a team of three players who call their style ‘Vaudeville Nouveau’. There was also a bit of Victorian melodrama, and a touch of the medieval vagabond which is not surprising seeing as they got together performing Shakespeare at Renaissance Faires in California. Richard Maritzer and Shelby Bond formed the group in the late 90s and have since had 9 others perform as their 3rd member. In ‘Sherlock Homes and the Saline Solution’. Richard & Shelby play Homes and Watson and Vinnie Cardinale uses all the circus skills in his repertoire to play every other cast member of the play. They began by welcoming us in their vagabond personas as we queued to come in then had a chat with us before the show officially started, it was all very relaxed and friendly. There was a nice bit of business where the authoritative Richard has to give up his role of Homes to the immature Shelby who normally plays Watson and so we have a wonderful Jeeves style relationship throughout, with a bumbling Holmes being gently led by the more competent & wise Watson.
The actors stepped into the play with a nice bit of dramatic lighting and the story was pretty much as crazy as a Goon version of Sherlock Homes with a dense script packed with clever word play, quick puns and all the characters having silly names like Sir Fistulous Withers. There were several Adult references that stop this from being a family show, such as a sex doll portraying the dead Sir Fistulous, which was a bit of a shame really, because they didn’t go all out rude enough to make it truly adult, so without those few bits of naughtiness (including drug references) this would make a good family show. It was fast paced and they admitted that the plot got a bit confusing in the middle, but it was a very enjoyable romp.
Sound and Fury reminded me of The Four Noels, but without their versatility and ability to have me in stitches. I really enjoyed this though, particularly the way the guys really looked like they were having a fabulous time doing it. I also really enjoyed their costumes and silly props and there was a brilliant all singing, all dancing finale. Be aware that an audience member will be dragged up to play one of the characters, so sit up the front if you like that sort of thing. Also beware that the theatre/tent they perform in, Le Cascadeur has very hard wooden benches as seating. Can I please implore them to fork out for a bit of foam rubber?
Visit the Fringe Website for boking details.